The climb
by keacdragon
Summary: There's not enough Zoom Fics! So I decided to write one! The team most conquer new challenges to survive such an awful menace that even the deadly NightFury can't compare...these tests aren't where their powers can help...they are inside the heroes.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing...**

**Summary: There's not enough Zoom Fics! So I decided to write one! The team most conquer new challenges to survive such an awful menace that even the deadly _NightFury_ can't compare...these tests aren't where their powers can help...they are inside the heroes.  
**

**To make this easier to write since I don't remember a lot about 2006, I'm skipping the movie forward to 2012.  
**

* * *

**Chapter One  
**

**I can almost see it  
**

xxx December 4th

Dylan had been on his own since he was sixteen, his mom had left her husband and son, and then one day David West just never came home from work. His body was found two states down river. By that time Dylan had a steady after school job, and several local guys were keeping tabs on him. When the Court tried to place him in foster care, the men fought back for the then seventeen year old. Dylan stayed.

By the time he'd entered the Zenith Program, he was a loner. Yes he'd gained a family, but lost the original.

Besides his team, Dylan had nothing to lose.

As for Tucker, Summer, Cindy...Zoom, Connor, Marsha...they all had something lose...and it was going to cost them and Dylan to face it.

xxx

While Dylan was gone on a school trip, the action the team had grown used to faded, leaving a five day lull where the kids stayed at their own homes. Jack and Connor fixed up the sleeping pods to have solid walls with semi-transparent glass doors. And Jack got a wider bed so Cindy would stop moving the couch that was supposed to stay bolted down to the floor.

Connor now resided in the pod next to Jack, Cindy was on the other side of the captain's room with the other three members across the "hall", that way no one was closer to Connor than his brother. The team was having a bit of trouble adjusting the the presence of a once killer.

The Zenith Team had only partially accepted Connor. Cindy the most, she was just in love with the "younger" Shepard. Dylan was indifferent, accepting his presence but not openly making sure he was included. Tucker sort of followed Cindy's plan, talking with Connor and making him feel part of the group, but he was wary of the shock wave plagued guy. Summer was just acting as if Connor wasn't even there...

...

Jack only woke up halfway as Cindy tiptoed in the first night all four kids were back on base, he shifted to let her crawl under the thick blanket he'd left on that side. she was silent as she curled up, most likely facing him but Jack preferred to keep his eyes closed when trying to sleep. She pulled the covers around her to the point where Jack was straining to keep just a little bit of them on him, finally rolling over after losing feeling in his hand.

"Go to sleep Cindy."

"G'nite Mr. Zoom."

xxx

Area 52 was set into a mountain...secretly...a mountain in the middle of the Mojave Desert in Nevada. Plenty of rocks to climb and awesome views. Some such views were the amazing sunsets.

...

Jack sighed softly as he watched the radiant colors blazing across the horizon. Zoom and Ace had made this their spot when they'd ditched Dr. Grant and Larraby, not even Connor knew of his brother's hide out.

"Mr. Zoom?"

Okay, except Cindy.

She'd found the cliff weeks ago and occasionally spent the evenings with the team captain, watching the sunset quietly before asking questions about the past.

Jack usually opened up, but tonight he didn't feel like talking so he laid out on his back, staring up at the appearing stars as Cindy sat next to him.

"Mr. Zoom?"

"Hmm?"

"What was Mr. Connor like before all the training and stuff?"

Jack sighed softly, Connor had been different before the Zenith team, way different. He'd been the rebel James Dean kinda teenager with enough maturity to know when to buckle down and get stuff done when he had to.

"He was...different Cindy...definitely different..."

The little girl hummed before laying back as well, except her head was near the edge of the cliff and her feet level with Jack's hip.

Jack didn't notice until it was almost too late.

xxx

Dylan stayed perfectly still; the training room designed for Connor was a huge padded room, ballistic gel walls designed to take the shock blasts and packing peanut covered pit floor. If the teen didn't move, the peanuts didn't shift and alert the hyper vigilant Connor to his presence and as a target to get tossed across the room.

Connor was practicing his aim with lesser level blasts, Dylan was practicing his stealth.

Neither were making much progress.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!"

Dylan smirked, reappearing when Connor began to walk away from him while staring at the far wall.

"Really? Hide and seek?"

Connor spun around with a blast, the wave making Dylan stumble as he sprinted to avoid it. He had to freeze invisibly in a half crouched position, rather painful since he'd been working out all day. Concussion smiled as he glanced around, deep blue eyes taking in every detail of the room he was very familiar with.

"Don't be a hot head, that can cost ya pretty bad."

Dylan smiled again, Connor was easy to get along with if he was by himself, this session had been taking so long that even Dr. Grant and Ms. Holloway had given up and left the observation room. Now Connor was relaxed and happy to comment and help Dylan's training, he'd even stopped the session to go over decent positioning on the packing peanuts to remain still and be able to move fast from a cold start.

The teen known as Houdini marginally shifted, just enough to launch himself to one side as Connor glanced at him, receiving a shock wave pop that snapped him into normal view. He landed easily on the peanuts, and he should have rolled right to his feet and ran.

Then his mind-sight kicked in, sending him spinning through Area 52's corridors and past secret panels he didn't even know existed. Distantly he was aware of Connor next to him, supporting him and talking steadily and soothingly, probably so he could keep a grip on the normal world.

His mind didn't take him all the way, but before it shut off he saw Cindy crying and screaming for help...

Dylan choked as he returned to normal, coughing and nearly throwing up as Connor quickly shut the session down, opening the doors and guiding the teen out into fresh air.

"Dylan? What is it?"

Connor's steady voice helped him focus as he stumbled to his feet, "It's Cindy...something's wrong."

xxx

Jack had been able to grab Cindy before she rolled off the cliff, he hadn't been able to move fast enough as the cliff edge crumbled beneath him.

As he'd fallen backwards, Cindy had lunged and caught his right leg, holding on tight. The cliff was cracking beneath her, she couldn't pull him up even with her super strength.

And Jack wouldn't survive the fall if she let go.

xxx

Connor had pulled an alarm seconds later, getting everyone's attention as Dylan started running through the corridors, rushing through doors that should have been locked. Connor began to put the pieces together, Jack had had a secret spot years ago, and as team captain he would have had access to keys the others didn't.

Cindy may not be the only one in trouble.

xxx

Cindy screamed again as her hands struggled to maintain a grip on Jack's jeans, the material was stiffening with cold as the temperature dropped rapidly in the desert.

Jack had been pretty calm,he would let out a constant stream of talking to keep Cindy as calm as she could be, all the while panicking internally and hoping someone would find them.

"Mr. Zoom! I'm slipping!"

Jack had already felt it, but there was nothing he could do, he couldn't even pull his upper body up without risking pulling Cindy off the cliff.

"Cindy listen to me, let me slip a little bit until you can grip easier, once you can hold on as tight as you can, it'll be ok."

The girl nodded, releasing a bit of pressure from her hands before Jack started falling again, this time a bit slower until Cindy's hands caught his knee in a vice tight grip. He swallowed a wince, the girl was extremely strong.

"Zoom..."

"It's ok Cindy...everything's gonna be fine."

Cindy nodded, but she was still crying, and Jack couldn't do anything about it.

"Help me...somebody please help me..."

"Cindy!"

"Jackie!"

Jack winced at the yells, he was shaking with cold and a head ache from the blood to his head. The last thing he needed was to go deaf.

Another set of hands grabbed his leg, these locked onto his ankle before the hiss of a propelling rope sailed past him. Jack glanced up to see Connor bracing Cindy as he helped her hold onto Jack's leg, Dylan was propelling down the cliff enough to get beneath Jack to support him.

At some point he slipped into a daze, not really understanding what was going on. Several soldiers had taken Cindy's place, Connor was holding her wrapped in a blanket as people lifted Jack back to safe ground, strapping him to a mobile stretcher when he couldn't put any weight on the leg Cindy had been holding.

Jack fell unconscious, the pain and cold was too much for him. The last thing he heard was Holloway assessing his knee and sounding upset...something about..never again...running...

xxx

xx

xxx

December 10th,

xxx

Dylan lost himself to the music on his MP3, his legs keeping to a steady jog as he pounded on the treadmill. Jack had been in the medical ward for two weeks, and Dr. Grant hadn't been allowing visitors. For Cindy's and Tucker's sake, Dylan hoped the rule would change.

The eldest teen didn't notice the door to the gym open, nor did he realize someone was watching him from the chairs off to the one side as he picked up the pace, moving into a fast paced run that would work into an all out sprint before slowing to let the person exercising cool off before getting down from the machine.

Dylan did notice that when he reached the sprint stage, the setting was wrong, it was closer to Zoom's speed and level of endurance.

Least to say his tripping and sliding backwards was rather impressive.

Groaning, Dylan moved to curl into a ball on the padded gym floor, treadmill burn wasn't pleasant, nor was hitting the floor at about 25 mph.

Someone snorted to the side, making Dylan slowly uncurl before looking over at the chair's.

From his upper thigh to his ankle, Zoom's right leg was in a thick white cast, a pair of crutches leaned against the wall next to his chair.

"Hey."

Jack nodded faintly as Dylan spoke, the teen's voice a groan as he spread out on the cool mats.

"Next time, check the settings."

Dylan nodded into the floor, enjoying the feeling of the cold mats against his skin.

"I have surgery in January."

Jack's voice startled him out of his relaxing, he turned just enough to look at the captain, Zoom was staring off into space, his expression that of grim acceptance.

"After that cast is off, I'm in a brace for at least six months and start therapy."

The teenager winced, a classmate had busted his knee, it had ended his career in sports, he'd lost several scholarships.

"What do they say about recovery?"

Jack sighed before struggling to stand without jarring his leg, finally having Dylan help him up so he could get braced on the crutches.

"I may never run again."

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